Marie Long took a page from Ricki Lake's book a few weeks ago, giving birth to her daughter Katelin at home, in a tub filled with water.
Actually, the Orangevale mom was way ahead of the former talk-show host. All three of Long's children, including Hyrum, 4, and Elaina, 2, were delivered at home.
The vast majority of people still have their babies in hospitals. But thanks in part to the widely praised documentary "The Business of Being Born," in which executive producer Lake is shown birthing her baby Owen in a tub in her home, that may be changing.
"Ever since 'The Business of Being Born' was released, we are getting probably twice as many calls," said Claudia Breglia, a Sacramento licensed midwife who presides over home births. "I would estimate that a third of the people who call us mention the film, and they are mostly mainstream, educated people, not people who are on the fringe."
Released this year, the documentary portrays home birth as a less costly, more satisfying and healthful alternative to delivering babies in hospitals. Technology, the film suggests, has wrongly transformed childbirth from a natural process into an unnecessarily complicated medical procedure.
Many doctors disagree. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued a statement in opposition to home births, arguing that hospitals are the safest places to deliver babies.
"Childbirth decisions should not be dictated or influenced by what's fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause celebre," the group said in a written statement.
Breglia said the dangers of home birth often are overstated. Serious complications are unusual, she said, and midwives carry medicines and equipment to deal with them. They also are prepared, she said, to quickly take a patient to the hospital if necessary.
In the 2005 study, researchers found that about 12 percent of 5,418 women who intended to give birth at home ended up going to the hospital because of complications. Numbers of deaths were comparable to rates for babies whose births began in hospitals.
Call The Bee's Cynthia Hubert, (916) 321-1082.
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